


Harry Potter One-Shots

by Asterne_In_a_Sky, KMKH



Category: Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Angst, Auror Partners, Aurors, Crushes, Dialogue, Drama, Drama & Romance, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Gossip, Hogwarts Houses, Hogwarts Library, Kissing, Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter), Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Quidditch, Second War with Voldemort, Some Humor, Spells & Enchantments, Studying, The Owlery (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-06-24 13:35:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19724722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asterne_In_a_Sky/pseuds/Asterne_In_a_Sky, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KMKH/pseuds/KMKH
Summary: Series of one-shots set in the Harry Potter world.





	1. At the Owlery

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a collection of one-shots about GilArt set in the Harry Potter world. They will vary in length, tone and setting; for example, if set at Hogwarts, for each one-shot the characters will belong to different Houses and so on. Unless otherwise specified, each one-shot is on its own.  
> I will mostly follow the Harry Potter seven-book canon, although I will probably throw in some elements from the movies too.
> 
> Hope you enjoy :)

…

…

Arturia gritted her teeth as she stared at the student who was standing on the other side of the Owlery and was looking at her unabashedly. She had been arguing with him for a while, and she was trying to guess the reason why he had come there in the first place.

“You wouldn’t come here if you needed to send a letter,” she said with certainty.

He grinned, looking pleased.

“It’s very satisfying that you’ve realized this. When I want to send something, my owl comes to _me_.”

His words did not help make her aggravation subside _at all_ , and her tone became slightly more aggressive.

“Then what are you doing here?”

He let out a sigh, making sure she couldn’t miss his exasperation.

“You can certainly pretend to be thick, Pendragon, but I do believe you know the answer to that.” He studied her expression briefly before smirking. “Indeed, you do know the answer – you are simply too stubborn to accept it.” He sighed again. “I will make the effort to clarify then.”

He took a step closer to her. “ _You_ are here. So the logical consequence is, where else would _I_ be?”

Bluntness and shamelessness had never been paired so perfectly in one single sentence, and Arturia scowled.

“Let me send my letter in peace, you _snake_.”

He tilted his head to the side, regarding her with a raised eyebrow.

“Now that is as unoriginal an insult as I’ve ever heard, Pendragon. You can do better.”

He sounded slightly disappointed, and Arturia’s hands gripped her letter a little more tightly, trying to control the impulse to reach for her wand and threaten him into leaving her alone. She did not intend to break the rule about no magic outside the classrooms, but she could not deny that every interaction with Gilgamesh Corona was tempting her to do so.

Unfortunately, this time he also had a point; it was unlike her to insult him by reminding him of his House. Of course Gryffindor and Slytherin traditionally hated each other, but that did not mean that she should use that as ground for disliking him.

“You are correct,” she forced herself to say, striving to ignore his pleased smirk. “It’s not your House that makes you insufferable. It’s your obnoxious persistence in following me around and finding the most absurd reasons to talk to me, with the sole purpose of antagonizing me.”

Gilgamesh was now grinning widely.

“This is exactly what I was talking about, Pendragon. _Much_ better.” He sounded delighted… and decidedly smug. “Now, weren’t you supposed to send a letter? I know that conversations with me are very distracting, but don’t hesitate any longer.”

And with one last, inconceivably wide grin, he nodded his head at her in goodbye and disappeared down the stairs.

Arturia stared at the spot where he had been standing a moment earlier, before collecting herself and walking to her owl Ella, who had already flown down the moment she had entered the Owlery and had patiently been waiting for her.

As she fastened the letter at her owl’s leg, she shook her head. Sooner or later, she was going to be unable to hold back, and she _would_ hex Gilgamesh.

…

…


	2. After the Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please remember that these one-shots are NOT connected. See [Christy's work](https://agilartlogbook.tumblr.com/post/186886599200/harry-potter-one-shots) for this one-shot, specifically the drawing on the bottom ;)
> 
> Some slightly naughty hints in this one :P

…

…

His arms were crossed as he impatiently waited for her. As soon as she spotted him, she flew in his direction, hovering in front of the stands on her broomstick and staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

“The game finished over ten minutes ago, Arturia,” Gilgamesh said irritably, giving her a look filled with censure.

“Emiya was hit by a Bludger, I wanted to make sure he was okay. And it’s _Pendragon_ when I’m playing,” she reminded him, looking every bit the professional Quidditch player she was.

“Not for long,” he replied smugly.

Arturia almost rolled her eyes and only held back with great effort.

“We’re not married yet, and I can still change my mind about that.”

He was unconcerned, going as far as to scoff.

“You know perfectly well that you won’t, Arturia.”

“It’s _Pendragon_ ,” she repeated for the umpteenth time, but there was no true bite in her words, and she looked at him carefully. “Why are you here though? You said you were working today–…”

“You know that I’m perfectly capable of finishing early,” he answered breezily.

Although she didn’t know what his exact occupation was, since he was an Unspeakable and everything he did was top secret, she was aware that he mostly worked in the Thought Chamber and had quite flexible hours.

Her expression therefore conveyed all her skepticism.

“But you have little if no interest in Quidditch…”

His fingers gently coming to caress her cheek weren’t enough to make her lose control of her broom, but she did tighten her hold on it just in case.

“There is no need to ask me something so pointless, dearest. You know perfectly well that the reason why I’m here is to watch _you_ take enjoyment in this sport.”

He leaned forward in the stands, in an almost dangerous move, and brushed his lips against her free cheek.

“We’ve lingered here for far too long. It’s time to go now.”

Surprising him, she tilted her broomstick to the side and leaned forward as well, meeting his mouth to give him a firm kiss. He looked at her with intrigued amusement.

She smiled to herself slightly.

“I’m afraid you will have to wait for another ten minutes, as I need to shower first.”

The gleam in his eyes told her that she had made the mistake of not considering the implications of her sentence, and his following words proved it.

“I won’t have to wait at all, since _I will join you_ , my love.”

…

…


	3. During the War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set during the Second Wizarding War.  
> NOTE: I do believe Arturia would be among the few people using Voldemort's real name, but please remember that in the Harry Potter books he put a curse on his name during the War, allowing Death Eaters and Snatchers to immediately track whoever dared use it, since only members of the Order of the Phoenix were brave enough to do so. And I believe Arturia is smart enough not to keep using it after that ;)

…

…

It had taken Arturia several days to track down Gilgamesh.

He wasn’t in hiding, but he did not like to receive visits or just be found, as he had a general feeling of contempt towards, well, _most_ people. However, she knew that he had purposefully left hints and magical traces that only she could recognize and therefore eventually manage to find him.

She had to be careful, since as a Muggle-born she was an Undesirable under the current regime and she absolutely needed to avoid public places, always have Polyjuice Potion ready and often use the Disillusionment Charm, but she had expected him to behave as usual. And she had hoped he would listen to what she was going to ask of him.

Clearly, that wasn’t the case, and that meant that she needed to be firmer. She wasn’t going to accept his refusal to get involved in the War any longer – she simply couldn’t.

His tone was bored, even though there was clear contempt in it.

“This discussion is pointless and ridiculous. You know perfectly well that I don’t care about the Boy Who Lived.”

“But you care about me,” she couldn’t help murmuring, before immediately stopping and silently cursing herself.

She had sworn to herself that she would not try to use his feeling for her to make him fight on their side; even though innocent people kept dying, she had no right to stoop so low. She wanted to make him realize that his present position was no longer acceptable, but not by _using_ him.

Judging from his reply, he knew exactly what she had just involuntarily attempted to do.

“Trying to manipulate me now, Arturia? I thought you were above this kind of vile trickery.” His voice wasn’t mocking, but it was sharp, and its coldness was unmistakable.

Arturia took a deep breath. She wouldn’t try to influence him like that again, but she would make sure to use all her honesty.

“I care about you too, Gilgamesh.” Her candid admission made him pause, and he looked at her carefully. “But that’s not why I’m having this talk with you. In case you hadn’t noticed, we are at War. The only reason why You-Know-Who hasn’t come after you yet is that you are powerful enough to reject him if you choose to do so. But no one else is like that. Everyone else has to make a choice, to choose what side to be on. You are the only one who has the true option of neutrality, and you’ve taken it. It’s your right to do so, and although I can’t share your view, my own feelings about this are irrelevant.”

She forced herself to keep holding his gaze. “What is not irrelevant are the consequences of your position. You could almost single-handedly help end this War, a War that by your own admission is _boring_ to watch.”

It wasn’t precisely the argument she wanted to make, but she knew it would make him listen. “People are dying every day because You-Know-Who’s power remains unchallenged. The one who can eventually face him and win is the Boy Who Lived, but he’s never going to survive to get to that moment unless he gets help. And that means having concrete support from the magical community.”

She could have insinuated that the final battle would be worth watching, but she didn’t. She would be honest, but she sternly told herself that she was done trying to convince him through something as contemptible as manipulation.

Suddenly, without warning, she was in his arms, his scent invading her senses, and the next moment, he was kissing her deeply. One hand was behind her head, angling her face up so that he could reach her better, and the other was holding her waist steadfastly.

Although shocked, that feeling was overcome quickly, and soon, _very_ soon, she was kissing him back, with the exact same intensity.

At some point during the past few months of exchanging information – although he insisted he was neutral, he knew exactly what was going on and had given her information that had sometimes saved her life and other Muggle-borns’ – she had had to admit to herself that she had fallen for him.

But War was War. She had no right to get lost in her feelings, not while people kept dying and she could do something to stop the massacres.

Once their lips separated – his arm didn’t leave her waist though, while the other tugged her even closer – and before she could say anything, he smirked at her as he casually waved his wand. To her bewilderment, he conjured two small golden objects that she realized, after a stunned second, were _rings_.

“I accept your very compelling marriage proposal, Arturia.”

She was deeply confused.

“Asking for your help isn’t–”

“Yes, it is,” he said firmly. He was looking into her eyes intently. “With my intervention, you know that the War will end. And without this War, you have no more excuses to be away from me. Without those ludicrous new laws about Muggle-borns, you will be able to pursue your dreams to become an Auror – and you can finally be with me.”

She stared at him for a long, silent moment. She could not agree with the reasons behind his main argument, but she needed to focus on the fact that he had agreed. She supposed that, in light of this, she could be honest one more time as well.

“I would want to be with you regardless,” she said boldly, taking one of the two floating rings slowly. “But what I… what _we_ … want will only be possible once the War is over.”

Gilgamesh grinned, crimson eyes glinting with satisfaction, but there was also some unexpected warmth in his expression, and Arturia swallowed as he took the other ring, wordlessly sealing their promise.

“ _That_ was all you had to say, my dearest Arturia. And that is why my answer is yes.”

…

…


	4. The Minister for Magic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to give Gilgamesh the same surname in all the one-shots, as it makes things easier for me. 'Corona' means 'crown' in Italian and in Latin ;)
> 
> On a different note, RoyalSonata let me know about [this](https://twitter.com/tifa920516/status/1153434697386606592?s=21) great work by tifa on Twitter, which is about this one-shot series!!  
> I don't have a Twitter account, but I hope you're reading here on AO3 - thank you so much tifa for mentioning my fic!!!! Oder, wenn Deutsch besser ist, vielen Dank tifa! Ich liebe deine Zeichnungen und Bilder, sie sind wunderschön :D

…

…

Arturia couldn’t help straightening slightly as she heard the unmistakable sound of someone coming through the Floo Network. She was not in awe when it came to the man who had just exited the fireplace, nor was she particularly impressed by his capabilities, but he was still the Minister for Magic and she considered it necessary to at least behave in a civil manner towards him.

He was an incredibly handsome man, considered a very competent Minister, and was certain to be re-elected, as the seven-year maximum of his term was about to be over. Arturia wasn’t however blinded by looks – or wealth, for that matter – and she was fully aware of the arrogance simmering underneath the seemingly perfect surface–… no, that was incorrect, because Gilgamesh Corona didn’t even _try_ to conceal his conceit.

Yet as much as she found him full of himself, she had to grudgingly give him credit and admit to herself that he was a good Minister.

While he could seem bored at first glance, he never missed anything of what was going on around him, and he was an almost frighteningly keen observer. He commanded respect easily and tolerated no incompetence, which had made it rapidly become known that he was very strict but also surprisingly fair in rewarding those who proved themselves. He demanded the best from people, but he also offered them the best in return.

The fact that he did not care at all about what family the wizards and witches belonged to had been appreciated by most members of the magical community, although there had been some – those belonging to the ancient families – who had not liked this at first. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he was a half-blood himself – same as her – but Gilgamesh had not wasted any time in making clear that he would not accept anyone working for him at the Ministry if they weren’t skilled, and he cared not for their ancestry or lack thereof. And Arturia couldn’t help heartily approving of such a firm decision on the Minister’s part.

No, the problem she had with him was all related to his blatant interest in her.

Ever since he had become Minister, his personal life – in fact, his status as a bachelor – had become the primary object of speculation on _Witch Weekly_. He had nevertheless had no relationship and no open interest in anyone, giving gossip nothing except the chance to swoon over his good looks.

Recently, however, he had started to show his clear preference for her in public, too. She had always been aware of it, ever since they had been in school, as he was just two years older than her, but while he had never truly attempted to conceal the long looks he gave her, he had seemingly decided not to hold back at all anymore.

Arturia wasn’t particularly bothered by the gossip that had started as consequence, since she knew there was little even the most venomous writers could find to say about her, and because she had worked hard to get to the senior position at the Auror Office before Gilgamesh had become Minister.

Even the notoriously difficult Head of the Auror Department, Iskandar Imperator, had had words of praise for her when a _Witch Weekly_ reporter had inexplicably managed to corner him. The fact that there was not much material for a good article on her and that she seemed not to return the Minister’s interest had made her hear that she was being referred to as ‘cold-hearted’ in the most recent issues.

That _had_ angered Arturia slightly, as it was putting unfair pressure on her, and that was definitely something she didn’t need in her line of work. To his credit, Gilgamesh had completely ignored the public’s eager curiosity for his potential love life and did not treat her any differently than usual – which of course meant that, whenever they were together, his unfailing attention was on her.

With some effort, since the Minister for Magic was now standing right behind her, Arturia turned and greeted him, formally but without any coldness.

After giving her a nod, he conjured a beautifully elegant tray holding a full tea service for two people. She was completely aware of the fact that usually, when he was conversing with someone he deemed worthy of his time, Gilgamesh conjured two wine glasses; yet he knew that she preferred tea to wine, and opted for it when he was with her. She needed to stop noticing those small, strangely thoughtful gestures on his part.

She had actually been questioning herself about the reasons for his fixation on her, as she truly did not understand it. Since they did not have a specific reason for meeting on this day and he was being completely silent, she supposed there was no harm in directly asking him about it. An answer was unlikely to be forthcoming, but he was indeed the only one who could provide her one.

She was mistaken though, as he _did_ answer, and right away.

“You were always interesting in an unusual way, Arturia. But when you uncovered the conspiracy that was brewing inside the Ministry… that was when I knew you were special.”

She gaped at him, incredulous.

“That… that was almost eight years ago, as I had just become an Auror, Minist–… Gilgamesh,” she reluctantly corrected, knowing that he had repeatedly requested she use his name. “And it was before you even became Minister…!”

He shrugged.

“I bid my time,” he said simply, although they both knew that he was infamous for his lack of patience.

As if he had read her disbelieving thoughts about it, his lips tilted upwards into a smirk. “Waiting is not only acceptable, but necessary for someone who is worth every second of it.”

She narrowed her eyes, choosing to ignore most of his implied compliment.

“Gilgamesh… You don’t even know me… or rather,” she was forced to amend, “You don’t know me that well.”

“I strongly disagree with that statement, but if you consider it necessary, it can be remedied quickly by spending more time together.”

She stared at him, her brain trying to understand what he truly wanted, and after a moment of silence, she frowned deeply.

“I will not waste my time as your plaything,” she said firmly. “If that’s what you want–”

“That’s _not_ what I want,” he interrupted her, and while she could read his rage at her supposition, she could also see that he was trying to control himself. He truly seemed to care about the outcome of this specific conversation.

“Then kindly clarify,” she countered, this time with some ice in her tone.

A small part of her was itching for her wand, but the rational side of her was telling her that there was no need to be so drastic, and her instincts were supporting this argument, telling her that, for some reason, the Minister wasn’t going to refuse to once again give her an answer.

“Come out to dinner with me,” he immediately replied, his voice and stance now at ease and relaxed. “Then to another dinner date. Then to many, _many_ other dates.” He paused, inclined his head to the side and regarded her with a curious expression, one she needed a few seconds to recognize as genuine affection, before he added, “As a start.”

If he was being honest – and while she didn’t doubt the man’s arrogance, she was also aware that he was no liar – Arturia needed to take his words very seriously.

It didn’t take her much time to decide what to do.

She raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at him intently.

“Does that mean that you are asking?”

She was hinting at the fact that he had indirectly asked her on a date, but she wanted to know whether that was the case. She refused to do all the work for him.

To her slight surprise, he was swift in replying.

“Yes, I am,” he said calmly, which was highly uncharacteristic for a man used to simply getting whatever he wanted by ordering it.

Arturia leaned back a little, observing him for a moment. Without a word, she took the teapot and gently poured the tea into the cups, politely handing him one.

“Whatever place it is for dinner, it must be away from the reporters,” she said sternly, bringing her cup to her lips.

A fraction of a second later, once the meaning of her words sank in, Gilgamesh didn’t bother holding back his smirk anymore.

“That,” and his voice sounded different now, no longer the one of the shrewd Minister for Magic, but one of the wizard who was truly pleased and was looking forward to the date with the tough Auror sitting in front of him, “is something that will truly be my pleasure to arrange.”

…

…


	5. Houses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who don't know the House colours.  
> Gryffindor: red and gold.  
> Slytherin: green and silver.  
> Hufflepuff: yellow and black.  
> Ravenclaw: blue and bronze.

…

…

“Pendragon.” Gilgamesh greeted her with a nod, eyes roaming over her like they usually did.

Arturia barely held herself back from either glaring at him or rolling her eyes. Only because they were in the same House, it didn’t mean that they had to interact at least once a day. But it seemed that he disagreed on that, since it appeared that he had made it a habit of standing near the door after each class, lingering and clearly waiting for her, as she was usually among the last to leave.

He couldn’t keep doing this though, and she proceeded to let him know.

“Corona, you should stop behaving like this. There’s no reason for you to always wait for me.”

He did not attempt to deny it, simply opting for looking haughty and smug at the same time. Behind them, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, and they both took the hint and left the classroom without comment.

Even though she was the Head of their House, it did not mean that the Professor was going to treat them any differently than she would any other student. Arturia deeply respected her and loved her lessons, leading her to the desire to never displease her. The only reason why Gilgamesh had instead never gotten a detention from her – in spite of his general indifference towards the school rules – was that he was immensely talented in Transfiguration and did not act out during her classes. Although he wasn’t going to admit it, it was likely that he grudgingly respected Professor McGonagall, too.

As soon as they had left the room, he turned his head slightly to smirk at her.

“There is a _very_ good reason for me to wait for my fellow Gryffindor,” he told her, tone completely nonchalant but clearly hinting that he wanted to insist on the subject.

She didn’t though, and therefore opted for a mild glare, her words slipping out almost unconsciously.

“It’s odd, considering that I almost wasn’t one.”

He inclined his head to the side, his gaze sharpening slightly on her, looking interested. He knew exactly that she was referring to her being a Gryffindor, and since she did not want him to go back to the reason why he was always around to see her, she decided to elaborate.

“The Sorting Hat took a very long time with me,” she informed him bluntly. “It was undecided between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.”

Seeing how his eyebrows were raised and how taken aback he appeared to be, she impulsively added, “And I have to admit, I actually like blue much better than red and gold.”

The thunderstruck expression on his face was priceless, and Arturia was unable to hide her satisfaction as she walked away, finally having been able to render him speechless.

…

…

She should have known that her incredibly annoying Housemate would want to get even with her.

However, even if she had remembered to be careful, she wouldn’t have thought it possible for Gilgamesh to retaliate by hexing her.

To be more precise, he hexed her _hair_ ; she didn’t know what charm he had used, but he had made it so that her normally blonde hair was now a tasteful mix of rich crimson and gold, the colours of their House. If she hadn’t been so furious, Arturia would have even admired the beauty of the intricate composition.

While she did not know what he had done to make her hair look like that – and it wouldn’t come away, no matter what she tried to do, both with magical and non-magical means – Arturia wasn’t about to let it slide.

She had only noticed what had happened to her hair during class, as apparently it had been changing gradually, and she surmised that he must have hexed her during breakfast. Since she didn’t manage to find him during lunch, she was forced to fume in silence for the rest of the day – while dealing with several comments from the other students – and she was able to come face to face with him only right before dinner.

Barely holding back a growl, she seized his arm in a steel grip and dragged him to the Common Room, walking in the opposite direction of the crowd of students that was heading towards the Great Hall for the evening meal.

To her slight chagrin, Gilgamesh did not seem to want to make things difficult, for he followed her without complaint, and she even glimpsed an amused grin on his face a few times, especially when he looked at her hair.

As soon as the Fat Lady’s portrait had closed behind them (the password had been _Enchanted Swords_ ), leaving them in the empty Room, Arturia let go of his arm, turned around, pointed her wand at him and rapidly muttered a few words under her breath.

He stopped, clearly surprised, and even though he made a movement to take out his own wand, he wasn’t fast enough. The hex didn’t miss.

He blinked a few times, not noticing a change at first, but Arturia’s satisfied expression soon made him realize what she had done. Bringing a hand to his hair, he took one of the longer strands, managing to see its colour.

His blond hair was now a stunning cobalt blue.

In spite of himself, he was impressed.

“You turned my hair blue,” he said slowly, as if he was trying to grasp what had just happened.

“ _Ravenclaw_ blue,” she corrected him politely, before adding, “Your eyebrows too.”

Gilgamesh couldn’t help it: he let out a long chuckle, unable to stop the deep feeling of hilarity any longer. If he had known what the results of riling up Arturia were, he would have done so a long time before. And he believed he needed to start doing so more often.

“I won’t remove the charm I put on your hair, as it will wear off by the end of the week,” he told her lightly. "And I suspect yours will too. Once they both do," he tilted his head to the side, looking at her closely, “I’m looking forward to resuming our conversation on the reason why I wait for you after every class, Pendragon.”

Arturia stared at him, not having expected him to take her hexing him so calmly.

With a wide grin, he produced his incredibly elegant version of a bow. “Now that our discussion here is concluded, I suggest we go to dinner.”

And without waiting for her reply, he opened the portrait hole, through which she mechanically followed him. She eyed him with suspicion as they walked down to the Great Hall, but he did not seem to want to do or say anything else, content to simply enjoy her quiet company – and giving no thought to his new blue hairstyle.

Arturia glanced at him once again right before they entered the Great Hall, and a small frown appeared on her face, even though she inwardly shook her head at herself for her silly thoughts. It was truly unfair to realize that somehow, without even seeming to try, Gilgamesh was able to flawlessly pull off the Ravenclaw look too.

…

…


	6. The Chamber of Secrets Attacks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chamber of Secrets AU.
> 
>  **Asterne_In_a_Sky** : Hope you guys enjoy this one, and imagine first-year Gil with a small chick on his shoulder (see [here](https://agilartlogbook.tumblr.com/post/187023430265/for-ch6-the-chamber-of-secrets-attacks-from)) :D do check my art on [agilartlogbook](https://agilartlogbook.tumblr.com/post/186886599200/harry-potter-one-shots) for this series! ;)
> 
>  **KMKH** : I wrote the first part of this story on my own, but then Asterne_In_a_Sky brought a lot of new ideas that simply HAD to be developed, and this much longer one-shot was the result ;) enjoy!

…

…

Arturia was determined: she wanted to find out what was going on with the mystery surrounding the Chamber of Secrets.

Ever since the crimson words had appeared on the wall – some students murmured that they had been written in blood, although Arturia personally doubted it – on Halloween night and the caretaker’s cat had been found petrified, there had been four other attacks, this time on students. The last one had taken place that same morning, and it had been a double one, against Arturia’s friend Irisviel and the aloof boy she was dating, Kiritsugu. They had been found hand in hand, lying in front of the windows in the second floor corridor that offered the best view of the grounds outside.

Arturia didn’t have a specific lead to follow but, a few weeks before, she had heard some words muttered by the apathetic gamekeeper Kirei in the Great Hall, about following spiders. At the time, she had not given them much thought, in fact dismissing them as the kind of cryptic talk he enjoyed partaking in. But since a few hours before he had been sent to Azkaban as a precaution measure – he had apparently been a priest once and it seemed possible that Dark Forces had attacked the students – and her friend had been petrified, Arturia found it impossible not to feel guilty, because she had done _nothing_ while Muggle-born students were being attacked.

She wasn’t a teacher, that was perfectly true, but she was a sixth year, not a first year, and that meant that she shouldn’t have blindly put her faith in the teachers and done nothing. She should have looked out for her friend Irisviel more, knowing that her status as a Muggle-born made her a potential target.

It was certainly too late now.

The only lead she had about the mysterious events was therefore that ominous ‘follow the spiders’, and that was what she had decided to try to do. She had searched the castle discreetly for hours, even going as far as skipping Potions class – it was her best subject, she reasoned, and getting to the bottom of the situation was more important than listening to Professor de Rais’s ramblings – and strangely without seeing a single spider. That was very odd, and it strengthened her conviction that there was something behind it that was worth discovering.

And of course, the exact moment in which she had finally found a few small spiders – they all seemed to go in a precise direction, she noticed – that were crawling away as fast as they could, she met the last person she wanted to see.

Gilgamesh Corona was smirking at her, the green of the collar of his robes looking like a snake coiled around his neck.

She knew of his interest in her – he had never tried to hide it and had never been fazed by her polite rejections – but she truly didn’t have the time to listen to whatever nonsense he would address her with today, nor was she in the mood. The spiders would definitely disappear before she got rid of him, and she couldn’t afford that, not after all the time it had taken her to find any.

So she did something that, in hindsight, wasn’t perhaps her brightest move she could have made in her situation: she told him the truth.

“I’m sorry, I’m in a hurry, as I need to follow the spiders.”

She didn’t care what he thought of her, but a small inner voice told her that she had managed the rather difficult feat of making a fool of herself with just a few words.

He didn’t seem to think the same though, because his expression turned instead positively delighted.

“Ah, you Gryffindors… always so amusing.” He smirked at her once again as she struggled with her temper, knowing perfectly that he was trying to goad her into reacting. “Show me then.”

It took her a few seconds to hear what he had said, as her eyes were still on the spiders, but when she understood, she looked at him in shock.

“What?” was all she was able to sputter.

“You want to find out what hurt your friend, and since you know nothing that could help you, you decided to try and listen to Kirei’s words,” he flippantly yet accurately described her thought process. “Certainly not the most fascinating pursuit, but not devoid of a certain logic, as that false priest does know much more than he says.”

She stared at him, uncomprehending.

“Show me what you intend to do,” he ordered. “I will decide whether or not it is worth my time.”

Arturia was astonished only for a moment, then she merely looked away and brought her eyes back to the spiders, which thankfully hadn’t disappeared yet.

“I care not for what you decide to do,” she told him coldly. “I’ll be however thankful if you avoid wasting my time.”

She intended to leave in order to follow the spiders, but he wasn’t so easily deterred.

“Does your Head of House know where you are, Pendragon?” he asked silkily.

She froze and inwardly cursed, but quickly found an excuse.

“I’m a Prefect, Corona,” she reminded him, giving him a good reason why she would be away from everyone else.

“Even Prefects can’t wander around alone,” he countered, with the same bite in his tone.

She knew she was going to regret her next words.

“You are a Prefect too, and two Prefects can wander around the castle together,” she rapidly fired back.

When he smirked, she knew she had been right. She was already regretting it.

“Ah, but as I said, I haven’t decided whether your efforts are worth my time, Pendragon. Yet.”

She glared at him with all her might. Unfortunately, she did need to make sure she stayed on his good side, because if it was known that she was walking around the castle alone in the middle of the afternoon, the consequences were going to be dire.

What was more important? Finding out what had happened to her friend and what could happen to other innocent students, or avoiding a boy who enjoyed pouring his arrogance on everyone and particularly on her?

She didn’t even need to make a choice.

“I’m going in the direction of the Forbidden Forest,” she therefore disclosed, giving up on trying to push him away.

She noticed that this got his attention, so she continued, “That’s where all the spiders seem to be going, and that’s where there will likely be answers about what has been happening this year.”

He contemplated her for a moment.

“And how do you suppose you’ll be able to go through all the patrolling people in order to leave the castle?”

She shrugged. She hadn’t always liked her height, but there were some advantages to being so short.

“I’m small. It helps when I need to avoid being noticed.”

He seemed to evaluate her for a moment longer, before he suddenly shook his head. He had obviously made up his mind.

“I have an Invisibility Cloak,” he said casually, indifferently, as if it was a minor information. “Large enough for both of us, and unsurprisingly, extremely helpful to reach the Forest too. The mysteries of this endeavour do after all deserve a nocturnal trip.”

She looked at him in confusion, and he smirked once again.

“I have decided that you are _definitely_ worth my time, Pendragon.”

…

…

They had agreed to wait at least for the end of classes before going towards the Forbidden Forest. Arturia did not like the idea of going there so late, but she reluctantly conceded that going out of the castle while there was still a Herbology class was too risky.

She casually walked down the stairs to mingle with the people who were filling the Entrance Hall, getting as close to the doors as possible, since that was where she had agreed to meet Corona. He had promised to get his Invisibility Cloak and help her disappear underneath it unnoticed.

As she did so, she couldn’t help catching a few words of what the students were saying, noticing how all of them were unsurprisingly talking about the recent attacks and mostly about the possible identity of the Heir of Slytherin.

She was quite surprised, however, when she heard some muttering Gilgamesh Corona’s name as a definite possibility.

Arturia found this absurd. As far as she knew, the Corona family was a very ancient line of purebloods, even older than the Hogwarts Founders, and not all of its members had been in Slytherin. The fact that _he_ was a Slytherin seemed however enough for people to start thinking of him at the possible heir, even though clearly in hushed voices. None of them would dare try to accuse him in public, Arturia noticed; they seemed too afraid for that. Not that she could blame them, as she knew that Corona could indeed be intimidating, but she found it extremely cowardly of those students to whisper behind his back and not have the courage to voice their opinions openly.

She shook that thought off as an invisible hand closed around her own, tugging her towards the doors. Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, which was surprisingly easy in the midst of the crowd, Arturia slipped away, finding herself outside the castle a moment later and then feeling something like a blanket fall over her.

Arturia looked around, seeing that it was quickly becoming darker, and was mildly aware of the thin, nebulous cloak that covered her and the person standing next to her. She became aware of just _how_ close she was to him, and had to dominate her instincts that told her to immediately step away from him. But her reason prevailed, reminding her that in order to stay invisible, they had to remain under the Cloak, and while it was quite a big cloak, random movements to preserve her personal space weren’t going to help with that.

She stayed still and silent for a few moments, listening carefully, before turning to face him. She managed not to swallow when she noticed how close their faces were.

“Good evening, Corona,” she greeted evenly. “Shall we?”

He nodded once, without saying anything, and they began walking side by side towards the Forbidden Forest.

Arturia had thought they would stay silent throughout their journey, but she was proven wrong when he suddenly spoke, in a low and unexpectedly serious voice, “Pendragon, stop going around the castle alone.”

Surprised, she glanced at him as they continued to walk slowly around the Lake.

“Corona, that is none of your–”

“It’s Gilgamesh, and don’t be foolish. Be more careful,” he interrupted her flatly. “You were lucky you met _me_ today, Arturia. Had it been something else, you could have ended up like your friend.”

Arturia felt herself stiffen, and focused on the ground to avoid glaring at him. She noticed a couple of spiders, and felt more confident about the direction they were taking: they were indeed going towards the Forest.

She did not drop their conversation though.

“Why do you taunt–”

“Your friend was Muggle-born,” he went on, and she tried to open her mouth in protest. “But blood status matters not. Her dark-haired friend, who was attacked with her… he was a half-blood. Just like you.”

Blood red eyes searched for hers in the darkness, and the look in them was chilling. Arturia was not frightened by him, but she was quite confused by the intensity he was showing. He was known for being completely in control of his emotions, so this display was concerning to say the least.

It also made her curious though, therefore she studied him carefully as they kept walking, nearing the edge of the Forest. Perhaps it was just an impression, but while there was anger in his features, it didn’t seem to be directed at her. It took her several minutes of observation and thought to realize that what she was reading on his face was actually _worry_.

Before she could however voice her perplexed realization aloud, she almost tripped.

She managed to keep her balance by gripping his arm unconsciously, and his other hand immediately went in front of her, in a gesture that seemed strangely protective.

She looked down at what had made her trip and let out a barely muffled gasp of shock.

“What the…”

At their feet, right before the huge Forest trees began to grow, there were several dead roosters. Gilgamesh looked equally stunned, and surveyed the scene in front of them with sharp eyes. Arturia leaned forward a little, once again finding a few small spiders that were quickly making their way deeper into the Forest.

Glancing around, she found herself hesitating. She had not given it much thought before, but as she had followed Care of Magical Creatures diligently for four years, she had also learned what creatures lived in the Forest. She knew of the Acromantulas, and it truly seemed that the spiders were going to them, probably fleeing the castle to go there for some sort of protection. Arturia wanted answers about the Chamber of Secrets, but she wasn’t foolish enough to walk into the nest of some gigantic spiders who weren’t likely to give her any, especially not after finding something else that was inexplicable, like the dead roosters.

To her slight surprise, Gilgamesh looked at the carnage, and while he didn’t bother hiding his disgust, she could see that he was considering the animals carefully.

“I know of a creature that fears roosters and that is feared by spiders,” he began slowly. “But it shouldn’t exist – not in this castle, at least… and it shouldn’t be able to attack without killing.”

Arturia stared, waiting for him to continue.

“It’s the Basilisk – the King of Serpents,” he said, his tone completely bland. “But the Basilisk kills by simply looking people in the eye, yet no one was killed–…”

“…because no one looked directly into its eyes,” Arturia completed, momentarily putting aside the matter of Gilgamesh knowing about such an unusual creature. “Irisviel and Kiritsugu were found next to the window on the second floor – they were probably looking outside, and… and of course, they only saw the _reflection!_ And everyone else… everyone else is alive… merely because they were lucky enough not to look into the Basilisk’s eyes…”

Slightly horrified, she took a step away from the roosters. “So Kirei was right in talking about the spiders…”

She frowned then, realizing what she was saying. It made no sense. If the gamekeeper had indeed known of the Basilisk, why would he have suggested something as dangerous as ‘follow the spiders’? She would have eventually realized they were going to the Forest, and she knew what creatures were in there, so why would he want to send her to…?

Gilgamesh seemed to be having a similar line of thought, because he let out a humourless laugh as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back slightly, closer to him under the cloak.

“He may have been right, but he certainly didn’t have your best interest in mind,” he spat coldly. “He wanted to send you to the Forest.”

“To the Acromantulas,” she corrected without thinking, and saw him freeze.

Her eyebrows rose at his expression of shock, and it took her a few moments to understand that he had not known about the existence of Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest.

Her expression becoming slightly perplexed, she asked, “You didn’t take Care of the Magical Creatures, did you?”

The haughty glare he bestowed on her was answer enough. Arturia frowned once again. “But if you don’t know about the presence of Acromantulas, then how do you know so much about a creature like the Basilisk?”

His disdainful expression didn’t falter, but she sensed that, while he was about to answer her, he did not seem happy to have to elaborate.

“Some of those dead roosters used to belong to me, as I brought them to the school myself. It is therefore a natural consequence that I know exactly what beasts they fear and what beasts fear _them_.”

Arturia’s eyebrows rose even higher.

“Wait, _you_ were the boy in first year who wanted to keep roosters as pets instead of owls, cats or toads?”

Gilgamesh glared at her, looking completely unapologetic.

“They happen to be far more entertaining pets than delivery-creatures, balls of fur, or some mere pond-spawns,” he replied coolly.

Arturia decided not to insist on the subject of pets, because she knew it was a battle she probably wouldn’t be able to win, and instead pointed out, “That still doesn’t explain the connection with snakes you immediately made–”

From what she could see in the darkness, he was now very close to being exasperated, and it was clear that he was about to lose his cool. In fact, she knew he had reached his limit when he cut her off. 

He pursed his lips and slowly enunciated, “…I cannot _stand_ snakes.” 

It took a full second for his words to sink in, but then she had to hold back a small, amused smile.

He rapidly added, “Since I can’t stand the sight of them, I learned everything there is to know about those wretched things, and I make _sure_ they stay as far away from me as possible – even the ones who are supposed to be just myths.”

Arturia was fully aware of the fact that she could use this unexpected opportunity to press him on his dislike for snakes – and his words also explained his apparent fondness of roosters, since they were apparently able to kill Basilisks – but she knew better than to do so. However, she was _not_ going to forget about this, as sooner or later there was definitely going to be a moment in which he tested her patience; and now, when she clashed with him again, she would have a very interesting argument to make, since it was rather funny that a _Slytherin_ seemed to hate snakes.

It wasn’t the time to get lost in fantasies of possible future occasions in which to put Gilgamesh Corona in his place though, no matter how satisfying those thoughts could be; they were still trying to solve the mystery of the monster hidden in the Chamber of Secrets.

Bringing the conversation back on track, she continued explaining, “As I was saying, there are Acromantulas in the Forest, so that must be where the spiders are going. In all likelihood, it’s in order to be better protected against the Basilisk.”

Gilgamesh was looking at her as if she were insane.

“And you were ready to march into the Forest in spite of that!?”

“I knew they were going _towards_ the Forest, I didn’t think they’d go _inside_ it,” she replied somewhat defensively, knowing that he was not happy in the least.

He pierced her with one of his best glares, before huffing and turning them both around.

“We have found out enough. We’re going back to the castle now.”

But it wasn’t true, Arturia considered as they silently walked back to the Lake; they had only realized what was attacking the students, not who was behind it. Because there was no doubt in her mind that someone was controlling the Basilisk; the fact that no Slytherin student had been harmed, the focus on Muggle-borns – well, now apparently half-bloods too – indicated that it wasn’t the work of a mindless beast in rage.

And then, right as they were reaching the greenhouses to walk around them, Arturia stopped in her tracks. How could she have been so blind as to not realize it sooner?

“It’s Kirei,” she breathed, her mind clearing from the confusion as every piece started to fall into place. “He pronounced those cryptic words not because he wanted to give people a clue, but to distract us from his presence in the Great Hall. He _hates_ being in the Great Hall – he usually never shows up, not even for the meals… but he needed to be inside the castle to control the Basilisk. So he made sure not to make anyone notice his real intent by having us focus on his strange sentence instead… a sentence that sounded like an instruction, one that if followed, would have led people to some unpleasant incidents in the Forest.”

“He knew _you_ would follow the clues,” Gilgamesh added, almost absent-mindedly, as his arm went around her waist to pull her closer, making her look at him in bewilderment. “And he knew I would want to accompany you,” he did not seem embarrassed in the least as he admitted it, “so he probably wanted us both to… have some sort of deadly adventure in the Forest.”

She furrowed her brow, lost in her thoughts, but not enough not to realize that she was still basically in his arms, and she wasn’t pulling away.

“But why would he do such a thing? Why would he want us to disappear… since, with your Invisibility Cloak, we wouldn’t have been found for a very long time?”

“Isn’t it obvious? To blame the attacks on me,” he pointed out easily, and Arturia was reminded of the whispers she had heard in the Entrance Hall.

She raised an eyebrow at him, leaning closer to his face, trying to convince herself that it was merely to see him better in the darkness.

“I thought you didn’t care about what people said about you, Gilgamesh.”

It was the first time she had used his name, and she didn’t miss the flash that appeared in his eyes as he noticed it too.

“You know I don’t,” he confirmed without hesitation. “But it’s very easy for simpletons to point the finger and accuse whoever they want, especially if they fear them.”

She could not refute that, and settled for a long look at him, studying his face, taking advantage of their closeness.

“We need to go to the Headmaster,” she murmured eventually, wondering why she had lowered her voice. “We should inform him of this… at the very least of the dead roosters. And we shouldn’t waste any time – there could be other attacks, and,” she inhaled sharply, “I don’t know how Kirei controls the Basilisk, but without him here to set it on specific students, who says the beast hasn’t gone on a rampage?”

Gilgamesh seemed to want to sigh, but did not follow through with the action. His face was still extremely close to hers, but while she could read the longing in his features, he did not press closer, giving her the choice of what to do next.

She tilted her head to the side, slightly taken aback by his behaviour, especially when he pulled away after a moment of silence, letting go of her even as they both remained under the Cloak.

“Quite the interesting evening, Arturia,” he mused, as if he was talking to himself.

She raised an eyebrow, even more confused, before she narrowed her eyes and challenged, “Worthy of your time then?”

At this, he grinned, and whatever pensive mode he had seemed to be in was lifted right away.

“Do you even need to ask?” His tone was too smugly pleased to be mistaken for an actual question, and Arturia barely managed to hold herself back from rolling her eyes.

“Headmaster. Now,” she emphasized, and they resumed their walk towards the Entrance Hall, knowing the doors weren’t going to be locked yet.

As he was about to open the doors quietly, she couldn’t stop herself from grabbing his arm, stopping him and asking, “What is the true reason why you wanted to come with me?”

It was now dark enough for her to be unable to see his face anymore, so she had no idea what emotions his eyes were currently expressing.

“The reason is the one the false priest did indeed manage to anticipate,” he replied steadily, even though something in his tone suggested that he wasn’t completely calm. “I would not tolerate you befalling any harm.”

At first, Arturia was stunned, but it only lasted a moment. Immediately after, she felt offended.

“It’s insulting how you believe me incapable of taking care of myself.”

His head inclined to the side slightly.

“I never said or implied anything of the kind, Arturia,” he said slowly. “If you were helpless, I would have no interest in you whatsoever. The fact that you are resourceful and quick doesn’t mean, however, that I would choose to stay idle while you face any potential threats.”

She still couldn’t see his face, but her eyes narrowed at him nonetheless, and she was somehow certain that he could feel her glare.

“That does sound like you don’t believe me capable of handling this on my own.”

She could hear the frustration that was beginning to seep into his tone.

“Do not wilfully misunderstand me–”

“This is not wilful, this is exactly what your words imply,” she shot back.

“Arturia–!”

“Come clean about what you want, Gilgamesh!” she hissed in a harsh whisper.

As if her words had been exactly what he wanted to hear, he leaned forward abruptly under the Cloak, and his hand went to cup her cheek. A moment later, his face was extremely close, and he brushed his lips against hers in the darkness.

There were several seconds of silence when he pulled back slightly, although his hand remained on her cheek, gently and distractedly drawing random patterns on her skin.

“Does this answer your question?” he eventually ventured, sounding a bit stiff.

She considered earnestly what she wanted to say, grateful for the dark that was concealing her face, guessing that while she would never do something as juvenile as blushing, she couldn’t deny that she felt more warmth than usual in her cheeks.

“As long as your answer was completely honest this time, Gilgamesh… then yes,” she told him, making sure her voice was relaxed and perfectly controlled.

Even in the dark, she could tell that he was smirking, and while his free arm went to the doors – ready to open them and lead them to the Headmaster’s Office – the one that was on her cheek went to grasp her hand.

“When it comes to you, Arturia, I will never have any reason to conceal anything.” He was so close that she could feel his breath against her temple, and she barely held back a shiver as she allowed him to interlock their fingers. “Not anymore.”

…

… 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kirei is obviously a Parseltongue ;) he let the Basilisk out because letting him sleep underneath the castle for centuries was an absolute waste in his opinion; also, he didn’t have blood supremacy ideas, he just wanted to see the school in chaos :/  
> We hope you enjoyed, and thank you so much for reading!


	7. "Yawn"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scene based on [Christy's drawing](https://agilartlogbook.tumblr.com/post/186886599200/harry-potter-one-shots), specifically the one on the top left ;)

…

…

“You claim to have read the whole book already, yet you insist upon accompanying me to the library,” Arturia observed as she found the second volume she had been looking for.

She glanced over her shoulder at the third-year student who was lazily trailing after her, and narrowed her eyes slightly when she saw him letting out a silent yawn.

“You are _bored_ ,” she accused him, and even as his crimson eyes settled on her, he didn’t attempt to deny anything. “You clearly can’t wait to leave, so why are you–”

She interrupted herself, examining Gilgamesh more closely. She had only given him a distracted look earlier, but she could now see that, while he was smirking as usual, his amused expression couldn’t entirely conceal the fact that he seemed decidedly tired.

Arturia’s eyebrows rose slightly in understanding as she balanced her books in her arms.

“Gilgamesh, what time did you go to sleep last night?”

He blatantly ignored her question, simply letting out another yawn. She barely suppressed a sigh.

“You didn’t sleep at all,” she accurately guessed, and his silence was confirmation enough. “You stayed up all night to read the book in question, didn’t you?”

This time, there was some satisfaction in his expression, and he finally deigned to give her an answer.

“I told you there is no need to study daily, Arturia,” he said, a patronizing note in his tone. “Memorizing the book right before the test is much more effective.”

She tried not to show the fact that she wished nothing better than to hit him, but she was certain that he could read her desire plainly on her face, because his amused smirk visibly widened.

“Your sleeping needs are irrelevant in this, I’m sure,” she commented dryly. “It’s obviously highly recommended to show up for tests half-asleep and inattentive.”

He did not comment this time, merely scoffing inaudibly. He then blinked slowly, and she could tell that his eyes were beginning to glaze over.

“Go to bed,” she ordered tersely as she took a seat at one of the empty tables and prepared to finish the conclusion on her Charms essay that was due the following day. “You don’t have to stay here in the library when you so obviously need sleep.”

He blinked once again before taking a seat next to her, his eyelids drooping in obvious drowsiness. Before that, however, he gave her a long, measuring look, which clearly conveyed his incredulity.

“Arturia, why do you think I even left the dormitory today?” he asked her slowly, as if the question was rhetorical. “The only reason I did it was to be with you,” he told her, clearly considering it obvious and straightforward.

As she stared at him in surprise, his eyes remained closed and he let his head rest over his arms on the table. “And quite fortunately, these chairs in the library, where you spend most of your time, happen to be _extremely_ comfortable for prolonged naps… to be spent in your company.”

…

…


	8. Amortentia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the Harry Potter world, Amortentia is the strongest love potion there is.
> 
>  **Asterne_In_a_Sky** : Hope you guys enjoy this one, because its sooooooooooooooooooooooooo good KMKH strikes again with her wonderful writing :D <3 (SCREAMS INTERNALLY) 
> 
> **KMKH** : This one-shot is the result of an amazing time we had on Hangouts, where Christy drew an absolutely wonderful Potions moment for GilArt while I was writing the story, with her input and suggestions throughout it ;)
> 
> [Here](https://agilartlogbook.tumblr.com/post/187048640750/amortentia-0-youre-thinking-of-me) is Christy's drawing!!!

…

…

Although they had been introduced to more advanced potions and antidotes during their sixth year, it wasn’t until they started their seventh year that Slughorn deemed them ready to begin to brew love potions.

Arturia didn’t exactly dread such a moment, but she definitely wasn’t looking forward to it, for she knew it would unleash an inordinate amount of idle gossip. She clearly recalled how, during the previous year, students had suddenly started ordering potions through owl mail and everyone seemed intent on innocently offering others something to drink.

In particular, Arturia had to hold back a sigh as she thought of how Gilgamesh had been literally bombarded with presents, all obviously containing love potions. While looking standoffish and haughty as usual, he had however not bothered to conceal any of his irritation as he had steadfastly refused anything of what he had plainly and publicly called _mongrel trash_. Needless to say, it had led to several girls – and some boys – running to the bathrooms in tears.

Arturia was not looking forward to having a repeat of that, but thankfully, Slughorn seemed to expect the increased chatter and took it with a great deal of good humour.

After teaching them how to brew what he called ‘simple admiration cocktails’, he gave them the task to brew a slightly simplified version of Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world. He dampened the enthusiasm that erupted by explaining that only skilled Potioneers would actually be able to brew the complete formula, while in his class they were going to work on an imperfect one.

When one of the students asked how they were going to be able to know whether it was done correctly, Slughorn reminded them of the distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen of the potion, the characteristic steam that was going to rise in spirals, and most importantly, its smell.

Arturia remembered having studied it the year before; Amortentia was the kind of potion that had some magical properties that didn’t require it being drunk, since its smell tended to make people relax and was different for every person. Specifically, it would make people smell what they were attracted to.

As Arturia stirred her cauldron – since it was more advanced, the assignment didn’t require them to work in pairs – she carefully counted the number of slow turns and then added the rest of the ingredients, double checking their amount.

The potion needed to be left to simmer for a while, and after checking once again that she hadn’t forgotten anything, Arturia adjusted her green collar and took the chance to look around the room. She was glad to see that most people were focused on their work, and they were all about to finish as well. The only one aside from her who seemed to have completed his own Amortentia was Gilgamesh, and he was already staring at her when she met his gaze.

He casually walked over to her, and stopped next to her cauldron. Without breaking eye contact as his smirk widened and making a show of leaning closer, he took a very long, slow, deep breath.

Before he could say anything, Slughorn was at their side, having just come from Gilgamesh’s table and now peeking into Arturia’s cauldron. He gave them a huge smile and an enthusiastic nod.

“Twenty well-earned points for Slytherin each, Miss Pendragon and Mr Corona, for also finishing before everyone else,” he said approvingly, before going to examine the other students’ progress.

Gilgamesh did not seem to have even noticed the interruption, as he simply took another step forward so that he was directly in front of Arturia, only her cauldron separating them. She held his gaze, knowing what he was about to ask her.

“Tell me, _Miss Pendragon_ , what do you smell?”

His voice wasn’t loud, making it clear that her answer was for their ears only, but Arturia wasn’t going to fall into the trap. She knew that, in the dungeons, it was almost ridiculously easy to overhear other people’s conversations, and she suspected that that was part of the reason why he had asked her such a question in the first place.

She was certain that her unimpressed stare was conveying her feelings in that sense, but it seemed to only fuel his amused smirk, because he even went as far as _winking_ at her.

“Oh, I see, you prefer me going first,” he almost purred, and he leaned forward, once again inhaling the incredibly intoxicating smell that was coming from her cauldron.

And to her surprise, he then rose his voice a little, maintaining a completely calm and relaxed tone, but making sure everyone in the class could hear him.

“I smell the clear scent that lingers in the air after the rain,” he announced, tilting his head to the side as he stared into her green eyes, and she had to fight not to let them widen slightly at his admission. “I also smell wine, and some hints of Majesty’s distinct and perfect fur.”

Majesty, Gilgamesh’s cat, was the most regal presence in the Slytherin Common Room, and it rarely allowed anyone to come close, except for its owner and – to everyone’s curiosity – sometimes Arturia.

She saw Gilgamesh’s smirk become devious, and she instantly knew that what he was going to say next would eclipse any of his previous words.

“But the smell that dominates over everything else, and which obviously points out what attracts me the most, is your minty shampoo, Arturia – the one you use after every Quidditch practice and that I smell every time you are near me.”

He seemed completely unperturbed by the silence that had descended upon the classroom, which was only disturbed by the slow simmering of the potions.

Slughorn, of course, was nearly in raptures, enamoured by what could basically be considered a love declaration during his class. Gilgamesh seemed ready to continue, but in that precise moment, as if someone had heard Arturia’s prayers that wished for such a public conversation to be over, the bell rang.

Without wasting a second, knowing that their potions would be automatically stored – or Vanished, depending on Slughorn’s mood, although it was a rare occurrence – Arturia gave Gilgamesh a look that clearly invited him to follow her _immediately_ , before turning around, grabbing her bag full of books and leaving the classroom.

During their fourth year, she had explored and learned all the hidden passageways in the dungeons, and a few weeks before, she had started sharing her knowledge of them with Gilgamesh, after his cat Majesty had followed her into some of them. Therefore, she went to the closest one, knowing that Gilgamesh wasn’t too far behind and would join her soon, allowing them both to have some semblance of privacy.

As she had expected, less than a minute later, the armour and the tapestry that hid the passageway were moved slightly to allow him to join her.

Arturia rounded on him, ready to interrogate him, but he didn’t give her the chance, as he went first.

“I believe you still have a question to answer, Arturia,” he told her nonchalantly, looking completely at ease and even faintly amused.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. She had been taken aback by how openly he had declared his attraction to her, but that didn’t mean that the surprise had been positive.

“Before I do that,” she paused for a second, letting him absorb the fact that she wasn’t refusing to answer, just delaying it, “please explain to me why you felt the need to make our relationship public in such an… unusual way.”

For the first time since the beginning of class, Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow at her.

“No such thing took place,” he defied, his expression betraying some slight irritation. “I did not make announcements about us being together in any possible way.”

Not agreeing with his explanation, she raised both eyebrows and argued, “You stated in front of the entire class what you smell in the Amortentia potion, specifying that those smells attract you. What could be more explicit than that?”

Although she was trying to control her feelings, Arturia couldn’t help letting her hands ball into fists briefly. She was not fond of her private life being made public.

Gilgamesh looked at her, a frown appearing on his face before he crossed his arms, his earlier amusement long gone.

“Arturia, I made no mention of _us_. I did not insist upon making you reveal what _you_ smell near the potion. I did, however, make it crystal clear, to everyone, that _my_ interest is completely, utterly, _exclusively_ fixated on you.”

Arturia opened her mouth and then closed it. Unusually for her, she wasn’t entirely sure about what to say to that, since his behaviour in class was something she truly hadn’t expected from him.

He wasn’t finished though, because he raised his chin and gave her a scrutinizing look. “I wanted to ensure that no one, no matter how fatuous they may be, would mistake the fact that the only person who attracts me is _you_.”

She considered it a good thing that it was basically impossible to make her blush, because if it hadn’t been the case, her pale complexion would have turned a bright shade of red. What was certain was that his words made her unable to hold his gaze any longer, much less give any kind of reply for a while, and as he didn’t seem inclined to add anything else, the silence between them stretched for several long minutes.

Eventually, she realized that the quietness was becoming awkward and, having organized her thoughts and composed herself, she stared straight into his eyes. He still had his arms crossed, not interrupting her meditation in a rare display of patience.

“When I’m near Amortentia, “she said slowly. “I smell the freshly cut grass from the Quidditch pitch. I also smell food… not any food in particular, just food in itself.”

Gilgamesh looked ready to smirk at that, but he could see that she wasn’t done yet, so he held back, waiting to hear what she was going to say next.

“Among the strongest smells, however, there are a sweet citrus scent and a bitter, rich scent of antique wood,” she went on, the words flowing out of her with surprising effortlessness. “The first time I smelled them was when you walked next to me at the beginning of the year, when we came back from the holidays.”

Arturia had used to often associate Gilgamesh with the sour scent of grapes once she had learned of his interest in aged wine, but that had been before she had become better acquainted with him and had come to accept him as something akin to a ‘friend’. However, as time passed, she had not been able to help noticing unexpected, _different_ things about him. There was something dry, sour and stern about him, she had been right about that, but it was overshadowed by his odd and surprising sweetness, and the mixture of those contrasting sides of his character – and smells – ended up being unexpectedly soothing for her.

But now wasn’t the time to muse about her relationship with Gilgamesh. Perhaps taking a deep breath would have helped, but Gilgamesh had just come closer to her, his hands coming to rest on her waist as he pulled her closer to him, his touch possessive but oddly gentle at the same time. Inhaling deeply when he was so close wasn’t a good idea, especially since she knew she would have once again felt the now familiar citrus scent.

Her own arms went around his neck, unconsciously pulling him closer by his green collar and then smoothing it down a moment later. She took a step forward, boldly putting herself in his personal space. Although he was taken aback by her unexpected directness, he was obviously not going to complain about it, at all.

His crimson eyes were focused on her, and his face leaned forward, mouth inching closer and closer to hers. Meeting no resistance and no discouragement, on the contrary, noticing how her emerald eyes seemed to light up, his lips came to touch hers.

The moment they were about to brush against each other, however, she spoke once again, making him hover over them. Even though he was quite eager to kiss her, he wanted to listen to her, too.

“Gilgamesh,” and her voice came out in a low murmur that was incredibly fascinating, as it literally seemed to pour into his mouth due to the closeness, “there was one more smell.”

He did not move away from their position, keeping their faces so close that their breaths were mingling together. As her eyes slid shut, she allowed herself to produce a small, slightly bashful but also impish smile.

“I could smell the scent of the clear air after the rain as well.”

Gilgamesh’s lips curved into an equally genuine smile right before he crashed them against hers.

…

…

_A few weeks before_

…

…

_The rain had been pouring violently throughout the game, and flying carefully had been nearly impossible._

_Their Seeker had been badly injured early in the game, lightning having fallen next to him and frightening him enough to make him lose control of his broom and smash into one of the poles. He had been brought to the Hospital Wing, even though Madam Pomfrey had immediately assured them that it wasn’t serious. Losing the Slytherin Seeker meant however that the game would only end once the Gryffindor Seeker caught the Snitch, and the heavy rain was certain to make scoring very difficult for the Chasers._

_Arturia hadn’t however let it discourage her, not even for a second._

_As the team’s Captain and lead Chaser, she had resolutely flown through the rain to get straight to the Quaffle and relinquish it only to pass it to her teammates or to score. Not even the Bludgers – which were being slightly imprecise themselves in their aim due to the rain – were able to deter her, and she was too good at dodging to let them do anything more than graze her a couple of times._

_Perhaps it was because they had thought their opponents were at a disadvantage, but the Gryffindor team had definitely underestimated the Slytherins' determination to completely ignore the rain and play as if it wasn’t there. When the Seeker was finally able to spot and catch the Snitch, it was far too late for Gryffindor: Arturia and her team had scored more than enough goals to confirm a Slytherin win of two hundred and forty against one hundred and sixty._

_By any standards, it had been an incredible win, and even the Gryffindors had grudgingly sent glances full of respect in Arturia’s direction. All she however cared about was the fact that her team had played well, and she was extremely proud of them for not giving up even in spite of the decidedly unfavourable conditions._

_It was quite ironic that, almost as soon as the match was over, the rain started to reduce and become less strong. By the time all her teammates had left – at her encouragement – so that she could take a long shower, it had turned into a drizzle._

_Once she had washed all the mud and sweat off herself and left the changing rooms, it had stopped entirely. The smell of clean, humid air permeated the now empty Quidditch pitch, and Arturia couldn’t help smiling slightly as she made her way towards the castle._

_She was abruptly stopped in her motions, narrowly avoiding slipping on the muddy terrain, when a figure appeared in front of her._

_Gilgamesh seemed to have been waiting for her, if the satisfied smirk on his face was of any indication._

_“Splendid game, Arturia,” he said, before bluntly adding, “Too bad that the rain made it nearly impossible to see almost any of your beautiful scores.”_

_She knew him too well to bristle at his comment, although she recognized that, a mere few months before, she probably would have._

_“But you did see some of them,” she challenged, and saw the ghost of a smile cross his features, before he composed them back into a self-satisfied smirk._

_“Your unrelenting determination will never be invisible to me, Arturia, not even in the midst of a thunderstorm,” he told her fondly, an expression of such deep pride illuminating his face that Arturia’s eyes widened in surprise._

_He smirked knowingly at her and took a step closer, letting their faces become so near that their noses almost bumped against each other. A tremulous brightness seemed to fill the Quidditch pitch now, the clouds refusing to part to let the sun shine but allowing the sky to turn from dark grey to a silvery white, and Arturia didn’t stop the impulse to inhale deeply, the pure air filling her lungs._

_She saw – and felt, against her skin – Gilgamesh doing the same, and that was the last thing she saw for quite a while, because the next instant, his mouth and his scent were invading her senses._

_Closing her eyes, she serenely decided to let all those sensations overcome her completely._

…

…


	9. Fellow Aurors (1)

…

…

 _Protego!_ Arturia mentally shouted, moving her wand slightly as the air shifted and the shield materialized in front of her, tearing through the darkness of the night.

She knew she hadn’t done it a moment too soon, because the next second, a wordless curse hit it, the purple light being deflected and therefore narrowly avoiding her. Behind her, she heard Gilgamesh’s almost imperceptible sigh of relief, but she made sure not to let it distract her as she sent a powerful Stunning Spell in the precise direction from which the purple curse had come from.

She was fully aware of the fact that Gilgamesh was dealing with at least three other Death Eaters behind her, as a furious array of flashes of light was coming from that direction, but she trusted him to watch her back and handle himself. He was a wizard of prodigious skill and even though it hadn’t always been the case, she knew he had become extremely capable when it came to complete missions successfully and without jeopardizing anything in the process.

She had another two aggressors to take care of, and she went for a more creative attack. After all, sometimes going for simple was very effective.

There were small, soft pieces of sawdust on the ground surrounding them; she could use those.

Concentrating, she moved her wand in a circle to encompass the sawdust and then pointed it at the masked people she knew were hidden in the darkness in front of her, and whispered, “Waddiwasi!”

There was no doubt that her simple spell had hit the mark when loud yells of shock erupted in front of her, as the men were faced with an explosion of sawdust that hit them repeatedly.

Arturia was careful to keep her non-verbal Shield Charm in place, not just for her own protection but also to make sure Gilgamesh wasn’t exposed to any possible curses that she might dodge. Some had earlier grazed her, so that some small bruises had erupted on her skin and had even caused some minor bleeding, but thankfully, they weren’t serious.

Once again moving her wand in a practiced way, knowing she only had a few seconds and fully intending to make them count, she rapidly repeated a series of silent _Stupefy!_ in her mind, knowing that keeping them non-verbal would make them slightly less powerful but much more effective at the same time.

And indeed, she heard two bodies fall to the ground, almost at the same moment when Gilgamesh’s wand slashed and twirled one last time, catching his attackers by surprise and managing to finally knock them all out.

Arturia was quite certain that they had disposed of all their assailants, but she still exchanged a brief glance with Gilgamesh. They were able to communicate even in the darkness; an incredibly intricate string of magic golden chains erupted from his wand, going to tightly tie up all the Death Eaters they had just fought and, as was standard precautionary procedure, he also collected their wands. Meanwhile, Arturia instead murmured the _Homenum Revelio_ charm in order to confirm that there weren’t other human presences around.

As soon as she was done, she turned towards her partner and was slightly taken aback when he handed her a small bottle filled with Essence of Dittany, wordlessly nodding towards her injuries.

She accepted the bottle, but her eyes sharpened on him, for his movement had made her notice what seemed to be a dark patch near his temple. Noticing her gaze, he made to brush her off, but she was next to him in a second, and before he could protest, she let three dittany drops fall onto the wound. It was small but, like all head wounds, it had been bleeding profusely.

Arturia raised an eyebrow at him and indicated his completely healed injury as she brought the dittany to the bruises on her arms.

“How did that happen?”

Gilgamesh arched an eyebrow.

“How did you get bruises?” he asked instead of replying, and she scowled, knowing that neither of them was going to get an answer.

“Let’s go back,” she therefore muttered, and he nodded, a slight smirk tilting his lips upwards right before he leaned forward and brushed them softly against her forehead.

“Interesting trick with the sawdust,” he told her as he brought one end of the golden chains to his palm with a casual movement of his wand, so that they could Disapparate with their prisoners.

She did not outwardly react to his kiss, and merely grasped his forearm, preparing to turn on the spot to head back to the Ministry.

“Good duel with your opponents,” was all she said, the ghost of a smile appearing briefly on her face.

The next moment, her hold tightened on his arm and they Disapparated.

…

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To Apparate together with someone, you need to have a tight hold on their body, preferably on the arm or shoulder; however, I am assuming that Gilgamesh's chains are magical for a reason and can therefore be used to Disapparate with a whole group of prisoners. The spells mentioned in this one-shot were NOT invented by me, they all come obviously from the books ;)  
> I will probably write more for this specific AU - I like the idea of GilArt being both Aurors :)  
> Thank you so much for reading!!!


	10. Hufflepuff vs. Gryffindor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always loved the Quidditch matches in the Harry Potter books, and I recently realized that the only time Gryffindor defeated Hufflepuff was in the first book, and only because Snape was the unfair referee and Harry caught the Snitch after five minutes. In all the other matches, Hufflepuff soundly defeated Gryffindor.  
> That and the fact that Snitches have flesh memory inspired this one-shot ;)  
> Thank you to Christy for listening to my ideas about this story :D

…

…

Arturia fastened her Quidditch uniform around her wrists, where it always seemed to be a little too loose. Seekers were supposed to be small and fast, and she fit the criteria almost too perfectly sometimes, she considered, as she tightened the uniform a little more.

She then glanced at her teammates to make sure they were almost ready as well.

They were about to play a match against Gryffindor, and while that in itself wouldn’t have usually constituted a problem – her team was very good, Arturia knew that without need to boast about it – the Seeker on the other team was what made her wary.

Gilgamesh Corona was a skilled player and this would be the first time they faced off against each other, but it wasn’t what made her so nervous. She had after all gone against talented opponents before, and she had always appreciated and respected the challenge; the problem wasn’t even the fact that he seemed interested in her and blatantly flirted with her every time they met.

No, the problem was that she had realized a few weeks before that she might harbour a tiny, unreasonable crush on him.

Which was of course something absolutely ridiculous, and she had done her best to get over that irrational inclination by actively avoiding him. However, such a decision had backfired, since Gilgamesh had immediately noticed her behaviour and firmly made sure to be suddenly appearing around her more often, whether she was coming out of class or going back to her Common Room near the kitchens. He had even gone as far as to trick Shirou, her usual Herbology partner, so that he could easily take his place in the only class they shared.

During the past week he had even started following her, and when she had eventually lost her patience and confronted him about it, he had ignored her protests and instead attempted to give her a nickname. When he had then called her ‘King of Badgers’ – she had almost rolled her eyes at the title, which obviously originated from her being a Hufflepuff – she had just given him her most unimpressed stare.

She had however truly been ready to hex him when he had proudly let her know that, in that spirit, he wanted her to refer to him as ‘King of Lions’.

“Arturia?”

She shook herself from her thoughts as she saw her sister Jeanne give her a questioning look, inadvertently reminding her of the imminent match to play. Even though she was a year younger, her sister was very protective of her. Seeing that she had only been lost in thought for a moment, Jeanne however smiled at her and nodded, before glancing at the other two Chasers.

Arturia looked at her team, realizing that they were all expecting her to say a few words as usual.

“You know we are an excellent team,” she told them, her voice firm and even, since she wasn’t exaggerating. “Remember to play fairly.”

They all gave a nod, used to her concise recommendations, and the Keeper sneezed. Arturia gave Enkidu a worried glance, knowing that he had had a cold for a few days, but he insisted he was fine and indeed gave her a thumbs-up when he met her gaze. They didn’t have a reserve Keeper, and Enkidu _was_ an excellent player, so she would have no choice but to trust him.

As they went out in the field, Arturia completely ignored the screaming stadium and looked instead at their opponents. She saw one of the Gryffindor Beaters, Ozymandias, lazily trying to catch her eye and wink at her, but in spite of herself, all her concentration was on the Gryffindor Captain who was staring at her with a smirk on his handsome face, golden hair shining and spiked up as usual.

Madam Hooch cleared her throat and ordered them to shake hands, and Arturia was somewhat aware of how his touch seemed to linger, even as her eyes remained locked on his. It seemed to her that his smirk was widening as he took in her determined stance.

A few moments later, they were on their broomsticks and in the air.

The match had been going on for almost an hour by this point, and Arturia hadn’t yet seen the Snitch anywhere. She supposed it was slightly comforting that Gilgamesh hadn’t either, judging by the mild furrow in his brow as he circled the field, occasionally glancing in her direction and sometimes flying so close to her that she could swear she felt him brush against her shoulder.

The Hufflepuff Chasers were doing very well, using some of their best attack strategies successfully, although perhaps it helped that Gryffindor’s Keeper wasn’t in top form. Unfortunately, neither was Enkidu, and the Gryffindor’s Chasers, having realized they had underestimated Arturia’s team, became more aggressive as the match went on without an end in sight. The score remained surprisingly even, no team managing to get the upper hand; the Beaters were hitting the Bludgers relentlessly, but they weren’t able to turn the tide in favour of either team.

Arturia dodged a Bludger as she watched Jeanne dodge one herself right before scoring, getting them even once again at one hundred and fifty to one hundred and fifty. Frustrated, she saw the Gryffindor Keeper dive to catch the Quaffle he had just missed, and that was when she spotted it: a golden flicker very, very close to the ground.

To her slight dismay, she realized that Gilgamesh had seen it too. He wasn’t too far from her, and as they both dived, she already knew it was going to be extremely close.

Arturia pressed herself as close as she could to the broom as she pushed her Nimbus to go faster. Gilgamesh had the same broom, they were going to be quite evenly matched, but he was taller, and therefore had a higher chance of actually reaching the Snitch.

She wasn’t about to give up though, not under any circumstances.

She forced herself to go faster, wind blowing in her ears, somehow feeling without watching that Gilgamesh was a little behind but extremely close to her. Green eyes never leaving the Snitch even as the ground came closer and closer, she leaned forward a little more and stretched her hand out.

She knew she had very little time to pull out from her dive, and her arm hurt as she tried to get the small golden ball, but even as she pushed herself as much as possible, she knew she wasn’t going to make it. She felt Gilgamesh’s arm leaning forward to try and catch it too, and she pushed herself once more, knowing that she was fractions of a second away from crashing.

She leaned impossibly forward and her fingertips finally managed to touch the Snitch – but it was only a graze, and she realized she wouldn’t be able to grasp it even as her hand remained outstretched. Less than a second later, Gilgamesh’s hand appeared and it closed around both hers and the Snitch.

Arturia blinked, but she didn’t have the time to think.

The next moment, both of them rolled off their broomsticks, falling to the ground and hitting it hard, their hands remaining joined around the Snitch. Arturia realized that their uniforms were entangled and the only reason why she wasn’t hurting all over was that she had fallen on Gilgamesh, and not by accident, because his other hand was around her waist and holding her steadily close. With the corner of her eye, she saw their broomsticks landing nearby and stop rolling after a few metres.

Turning her eyes to the person underneath her, she winced slightly. She knew they had been very close to the ground when they had fallen, but it had not been a gentle fall and she was certain that her weight on top of him hadn’t helped – it must have hurt.

Carefully, she began to stand up, disentangling their uniforms and pushing him slightly so that he was forced to let go of her waist. She didn’t however protest when he didn’t let go of her hand and the Snitch, and wordlessly helped him up.

His expression was curiously inscrutable as he stared at her in silence, and they both dusted themselves off with their free hands, _still_ not letting go of the Snitch.

Madam Hooch was upon them in an instant, looking them over and muttering something about recklessness and disregard for safety. She then spotted their joint hands, and frowned.

“Who caught the Snitch?”

Who indeed, Arturia wondered, uncertain. She looked at Gilgamesh again, but he had never looked away from her and did not react under her gaze. And, uncharacteristically for him, he still didn’t speak.

“Very well,” Madam Hooch said briskly as they both remained silent. “Hand over that Snitch.”

It was then that Arturia realized that their teammates were around them, awaiting the verdict with baited breath. The score had been even, whoever caught the Snitch had assured victory for the team. Jeanne was looking at her worriedly, clearly troubled by her fall, but Arturia gave her a short nod to let her know she was fine. The Gryffindors looked mostly puzzled by what had just happened, while the Hufflepuffs appeared calmer. Enkidu sneezed once again.

Madam Hooch took out her wand and pointedly looked at their still joined hands. Arturia loosened her hold, and after a tense second, Gilgamesh did too, allowing Madam Hooch’s gloved hand to get the Snitch, whose golden wings were fluttering weakly after having been held in such a firm grip.

Arturia stared at the golden ball, knowing that its flesh memory would soon reveal who had touched it first.

Before Madam Hooch could tell everyone, her eyes widened though, because she realized that the verdict wasn’t going to be right.

And indeed, a moment later, as the Snitch glowed slightly in her palm, Madam Hooch began, “Arturia Pendragon caught the Snitch–”

“I didn’t,” Arturia interrupted rapidly, and all her teammates startled, while the Gryffindors looked confused. She only focused on the unreadable expression of her fellow team Captain though, whose blond hair was now down, partially covering his eyes.

She cleared her throat, turning towards Madam Hooch. “I touched the Snitch first, that is true. But that’s all I did. He was the one who actually caught it.”

It cost her a lot of pride to be so candid, but she knew without a doubt that it was the right thing to do. An unfair victory would have been wrong, and she would either play by the rules, or not at all. She knew that her teammates would be saddened for their loss, but they would agree with her about her decision to be honest.

Madam Hooch’s eyebrows were raised, and for the first time since Arturia had met her, she seemed slightly uncertain as well.

There was a long silence, during which Arturia refused to look away from her, although she could feel everyone’s eyes on her, and the confused murmurs coming from the stands, as the spectators had obviously not been able to hear what was being discussed.

“The match ends in a draw,” Madam Hooch suddenly announced, her voice being heard by everyone in the stadium this time. “The Snitch’s flesh memory is among the most important criteria, but the fact that Pendragon touched it without catching it changes things. Therefore, the Snitch’s one-hundred and fifty points can’t be awarded, and that means we will only look at the Quaffle’s score – and that’s even.”

The two teams looked at each other, surprised by that unexpected turn of events, before Madam Hooch added, “There will of course be a re-match next week to allow the House Cup to continue, but this is the result for today.”

Several long moments of silence passed, before one of the Gryffindor Beaters rolled his eyes and exclaimed, “Whatever! We still played a great match today, it’s time to celebrate now!”

It seemed to be what was needed, because everyone grinned and even the people in the stands cheered, clearly agreeing. The Hufflepuffs nodded at their Captain before making their way to the changing rooms, as did the Gryffindors, but Arturia lingered.

She could feel Gilgamesh’s eyes still on her, and she needed to know what that had been all about.

“Gilgamesh?” she questioned, some slight doubt in her tone.

He tilted his head to the side as he regarded her, and as she finally met his gaze, she noticed how pleased he seemed to be.

“You are too fair for your own good, Arturia,” he told her, unmistakable fondness coating his words, before he raised his chin and gave her a smug look. “We are going to flatten you in the next match.”

Without even realizing it, Arturia was suddenly grinning. She had not thanked him yet for cushioning her fall, and she was certain he would not appreciate her bringing it up now, but she decided that, after the re-match, she was going to have a conversation with him, and possibly come clean about her crush as well. Honesty was, after all, always the best policy.

Staring directly at him, she extended her right hand, which had been in his grasp earlier as they had been after the Snitch. When his eyes appeared to glint as he took a step forward and took it, she knew she had made the right choice.

She couldn’t help smiling slightly again as she shook his hand.

“I look forward to defeating you fairly, Gilgamesh.”

He smirked at her, as he refused to let go and pulled her slightly closer to him. For some reason, she didn’t care about the fact that basically everyone in the school could see them.

“Oh, you should know that, while I feel the same, that’s not all _I_ am looking forward to, my little King.” She felt her breath catch in her throat at the intensity in his eyes, so much that she even ignored the title he used. “Regardless of the score, I look forward, very much, to going to Hogsmeade with you the weekend after the match.”

…

…


	11. Fellow Aurors (2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While this is the second instalment of the 'Fellow Aurors' AU, it's actually a prequel ;) enjoy!!!

…

…

Arturia had just finished with the standard preliminary checks on the place before cautiously entering. Borgin and Burkes wasn’t known for being a safe or welcoming shop, and it wouldn’t have been wise to be careless around the home of so many artefacts filled with Dark Magic.

Her partner for the mission, Shirou, carefully collected the object they had been sent to retrieve, making sure not to touch it directly.

“This looks quite ancient, and each of these strange gems on it is shaped as a rhombus,” he observed, keeping the odd thing floating in the air with his wand.

He looked at Arturia questioningly, knowing that not only was she the leader of the operation, she also had much more experience in dealing with such malicious objects. She was already moving her wand wordlessly over the gems, watching as they suddenly seemed to glint in reply to her non-verbal spells.

“From what I can see, I am sure we can handle this kind of curse, but as the gems are indeed much more ancient than what I’ve ever seen before, it’s best to take precautions and therefore call in our expert Curse-Breaker. Let’s go back to the Auror Office–”

As the last words were leaving her lips, she saw something move from the corner of her eye. Years of ingrained instinct made her react just in time.

“Down!” she shouted, and she unceremoniously pushed Shirou to the ground as a spell flew over their heads, missing them by a hair’s breadth.

Without thinking, she cast an advanced Shield Charm over Shirou and herself, since she had seen that he had lost his wand due to her abrupt movements. She rolled to the side as she sealed the Cursed Object with an official Ministry seal, giving her partner the time to recover his wand while she then aimed an Impediment Jinx in the direction where the offending spell had come from.

She knew that her protective spells were decent but not anywhere near as strong as her offensive ones, and she counted on that, being perfectly aware of the fact that her Stunning Spells were instead so powerful as to require the most skilled Mediwizards to be undone.

Knowing that their attacker – she could assume it was only one person – could have already fled in the few seconds that had passed, she rapidly fired five silent _Stupefy_ in five different directions. She thus effectively cut off any possible escape routes for their attacker and, since the spells didn’t hit anyone, they restricted his or her location to two possible spots hidden behind the shelves.

Shirou had just recovered his wand and had watched her cast the spells; realizing what conclusion to draw from it, he ran forward towards the missed spot on the right before Arturia could stop him. He was a capable wizard, but he had a tendency to jump into a dangerous situation without thinking things through, often putting himself – and sometimes others – in harm’s way.

He didn’t realize that, by checking one of the spots directly instead of sending a spell at it, he was both revealing his position and exposing himself to the other spot that may hide the attacker or even an accomplice, since they hadn’t confirmed the number of enemies yet.

Arturia had no other choice but to rapidly cast a silvery shield in front of her partner, and not a moment too soon, for it prevented him from receiving a powerful curse from the left. Shirou stopped in his rash advance, confused by what had just happened, and Arturia yelled at him to duck. She was trying to Stun the attacker on the left, but Shirou was standing in the middle.

Thankfully, he seemed to understand that he had been too precipitous in jumping forward like that, but while he cast a _Protego_ to defend himself, he did not listen to Arturia’s order to duck. The next moment, whatever spell was coming from the attacker broke his Shield Charm and sent Shirou’s body flying against the wall on the other side of the room. He shook his head a couple of times, obviously dazed but not seriously harmed. He had however lost his wand again, and couldn’t keep fighting.

Having been reassured about her partner’s safety, Arturia turned towards the stocked shelves that hid the attacker and, without hesitation, moved her wand in the simple _Wingardium Leviosa_ movement. The shelves were lifted and removed, leaving the man standing behind them exposed.

Before he could be hit with the hex Arturia was already aiming at him, his hooded figure turned to look at her and she saw a pair of bright crimson eyes staring at her, with a glint in them that was markedly pleased.

He nonchalantly inclined his head in her direction, as if acknowledging her, then turned on the spot and Disapparated. Her Stunning Spell made a hole in the wall where he had been standing less than a second before.

Silence descended on the room, and another quick spell on her part confirmed that they were alone in the shop once again. She turned towards the object full of Dark Magic they had been sent to retrieve, and to her relief she saw that it was still there on the table, her seals intact on it.

On the other side of the room, her partner stood up, shaking his head to overcome his dizziness as he retrieved his wand, and looked around, still keeping his guard up.

“What on earth was that?” Shirou couldn’t help asking, and as she grabbed his arm to Disapparate with him back to the Ministry, Arturia was silent, for she had no explanation for what had just happened.

…

…

After safely delivering the Dark-Magic-filled gems to Rin Tohsaka, the best Curse-Breaker who sometimes worked with the Auror Office, Arturia made her way to Caren Hortensia’s office to inform her of the mission’s results.

She knew she was going to have to report her partner’s behaviour to her boss. She generally liked Shirou, but his actions had been thoughtless and dangerous, and they could not happen again. He had been made her temporary junior partner just a week before, as he was still gaining experience, but it was now likely that he was going to be reassigned and would have to undergo harsher training before being sent out on the field again.

Arturia felt a little bad about Shirou, as he truly was nice person. While he had been impulsive and even hazardously close to a hindrance during their earlier confrontation with the mysterious man at Borgin and Burkes, a part of her felt like she had failed him.

He had not had the necessary experience to deal with a situation of peril, to some extent because she had not prepared him for it; a part of the responsibility for his failure to react wisely was hers. She had accepted him as her partner without actually working together with him but simply making him accompany her around; that wasn’t partnership, and that was part of the reason why he had not behaved like a partner should.

Caren, who was rumoured to be either a Priestess or a Seer, didn’t however seem to share her point of view when she told her as much later in her office.

“The boy was assigned to you so that he could observe you, it wasn’t your responsibility to babysit him,” she told her briskly. “He is clearly still green, since he managed to both fail to think lucidly during an attack and impede your efforts to thwart it.”

Arturia raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t yet told her everything that had happened at the shop, so how did Caren seem to know all the details? Was she indeed a Seer?

“Moving on, you are of course going to have a new partner, this time not a complete child but a senior Auror with experience,” she continued, ignoring Arturia’s expression. “Ah, and there he is.”

Arturia turned around as the door opened, and her jaw dropped as she once again met a pair of extremely amused crimson eyes.

“But–… But Ma’am! This, this is the man who attacked us at Borgin and Burkes today!”

“Ah, yes, indeed,” Caren said flippantly, her face not revealing anything as usual. “Gilgamesh Corona is an extremely peculiar Auror, if not an outright nuisance, for he is unfortunately skilled enough to have the questionable privilege of evaluating any possible partners himself. Congratulations, Pendragon: you are the first who passed the test and finally gets him out of my hair.”

Arturia was flabbergasted as she stared at the man who was now openly smirking at her and who had obviously already informed her boss of what had occurred at the shop earlier. He looked incredibly self-satisfied, and she had an immediate feeling that he was probably used to sporting such an expression quite often.

“As you confirmed the retrieval of the Object and gave it to the Curse-Breaker, your mission was successful,” Caren concluded, obviously done with the whole exchange. “Feel free to leave my office at your earliest convenience, both of you, but especially you, Corona.”

Gilgamesh didn’t even glance in Caren’s direction as he held the door open for Arturia, his smirk now having become almost disturbingly wide.

“A perfectly agreeable request, Priestess,” he enunciated slowly, eyes never leaving Arturia. “I expect to have a very long conversation with my new _partner_.”

…

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to Christy for giving advice about Caren :D


	12. Proficient Magic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Real life is truly crazy these months, but I do want to have my GilArt moments sometimes :P

…

…

Kirei Kotomine, the Headmaster, had rejected – with some deal of satisfaction – Gilgamesh’s request to move his office to another part of the castle, and Arturia knew that this meant that her husband was going to find a way to let his displeasure be known.

After all, Gilgamesh taught Potions, but everyone knew that he despised the location in the dungeons.

Since the Headmaster did not relent, Gilgamesh showed off his impressive magical talent by completely transforming the dungeons’ appearance with an enchantment so powerful that not even the Ministry experts that were later called in were able to reverse it.

Arturia, who had wisely chosen not to neglect her Defence Against the Dark Arts classes for the whole day, found out what the incessant chatter was about when she decided to head downstairs after dinner – and in spite of herself, she was impressed.

Gilgamesh had made it so that the usually dark and cold dungeons now appeared as an immense golden garden. It was a spacious, bright place, where cauldrons had ample space and perfect temperature for simmering. She barely held back a smile as she then met her husband’s extraordinarily self-satisfied gaze, and accepted his hand as he offered her a special tour of the ‘much better decorated’ former dungeons.

She couldn’t say she was surprised when, during the weeks that followed, Potions quickly became almost everyone’s favourite subject. Even if the teacher was never nice to any of the students, the fact that he had shown such prowess with magic – so much that even Professor Kotomine had been forced to reluctantly let the dungeons keep their new beautiful appearance – filled the students with awe.

Even Gilgamesh’s harsh critiques, while making everyone afraid of him, weren’t enough to decrease the respect he had inspired in people, and Arturia saw it all with mild amusement. She was in fact witness to her husband’s psychological destruction of a class of sixth years when she got to his classroom a little early.

“You have the nerve to call this a Hiccoughing Solution? If I cared one bit about your existence, I would confess myself surprised by your persistence in attending this class. Punishing you all for missing class is infinitely preferable to having to tolerate your incredibly uninspired attempts at creating even half a decent cauldron of potion.”

The silence in the room was absolute, and Arturia could see that some of the students were close to tears, although they didn’t dare sobbing aloud.

“If wasting my time is a new hobby of yours, you are to immediately find a different one that doesn’t include entering my classes. And it’s not a suggestion, it’s an order. You are dismissed.”

Arturia barely had the time to feel bad for the poor students who had just been subjected to her husband’s wrath before they all scrambled to leave as quickly as possible. She doubted many of them would be back to continue Potions, but she knew that the few who did would end up getting top grades in their NEWTs. While she didn’t agree with Gilgamesh’s methods – especially since he seemed to enjoy them a little too much – they were indeed effective.

Without turning around to look at her, he calmly said, “As you are here already, you might as well turn off the fire under the last cauldron near my desk.”

Arturia frowned, not liking his dismissive tone, but she automatically went to turn off the fire, as she knew how dangerous it could be to leave even one on for too long, and Gilgamesh had just had four consecutive classes.

The moment her wand was back in her pocket after the fire was extinguished, the dark liquid in the cauldron suddenly turned into a brilliant gold and started to create small bubbles on its surface.

A second later, the golden liquid seemed to disappear into nothing and in its place a beautiful necklace appeared. Arturia’s hand had instinctively gone back to her wand, but she didn’t do anything as the elegant and extremely elaborate necklace came to gently fasten itself around her neck. In the front, there was a golden pendent in the shape of a lion.

She looked up at her husband with a raised eyebrow, and found him grinning smugly at her.

“As if I would _ever_ forget my beautiful and stubborn Gryffindor wife’s birthday.”

…

…


End file.
